Spit-Takes and OzBuck's
by Irhaboggle
Summary: Elphaba runs into Galinda while going out for coffee. Then she runs into Galinda while getting some fast food. Then when she goes out for pizza. Seriously Galinda? Could you be any less subtle about your infatuation? Though Elphaba isn't very romantic either, since accidently spitting coffee on the girl crushing on you is never in any romance-advice book they sell.


Elphaba Thropp had just finished ordering her OzBuck's coffee and was about to turn around and take a seat to wait for her drink when an unpleasantly familiar face met her eyes. It was Galinda Arduenna-Upland, her biggest rival at Shiz University. That girl was nothing short of the Devil, but instead of having horns and red skin, she had something far worse: high heels and frilly pink dresses. Elphaba almost growled on reflex, but because they were currently in a public place and Galinda did not seem to have noticed her, Elphaba silenced herself and turned back to the counter, walking to her seat facing backward just so Galinda wouldn't see her face.

As Elphaba reversed on by, Galinda went forward to place her own order, the green-skinned girl couldn't help but curl a lip at the tiny blond and such an expression only grew when she heard Galinda speak.

"I'll have a venti Mocha with three shots of espresso, four creams, hazelnut, no foam, skim milk, a pump of-" Elphaba managed to get far enough away that she couldn't hear Galinda speak anymore, but having heard that first half of such a crazy order only made her roll her eyes. Was it customary for all snobby rich girls to have such over-the-top drinks? Or was that just a Galinda thing? Because Elphaba was pretty sure no one else in all of Oz would've ever demanded such a complicated drink. The green girl honestly felt bad for the poor cashier, but the look on his face said that he was very used to such outrageous drinks. Then, after placing her order, Galinda sat a few tables away from Elphaba and began to admire her nails. Elphaba rolled her eyes again at the sight before reaching into the satchel at her side and pulling out her book.

"Elphaba!? Galinda?!" a worker finally boomed out the two names and while Elphaba loathed having to be called up at the same time as Galinda, she still left her seat to grab her drink. The two bumped arms when they both happened to reach for their cups at the same time.

"Sorry," Galinda muttered quickly as she took her coffee, yanking her arm away from Elphaba's. Elphaba rolled her eyes yet again and took a sip of her drink in reply. She spit it out all over Galinda before it had even been on her tongue for more than two seconds. Both girls looked mortified and even the worker that had handed them their drinks could only stare in awkward silence.

For what seemed like an eternity, anyone who had witnessed Elphaba's little spit-take could only stare. At last, though, Elphaba spoke.

"Erm, Ms. Galinda. I believe we've had a mix up," she put on a dignified face, despite her embarrassment.

"Yeah," said Galinda hurriedly, before giving over Elphaba's simple, plain, black coffee for the death-by-sugar drink that Elphaba had just sipped. Elphaba was surprised the blond didn't snap at her for being clumsy or gross or demand some kind of reparation for being spit all over, but before Elphaba could even apologize properly, Galinda had turned tail and fled.

The next day, Elphaba found herself at the Wonderful Wizard's Wonderful Whoppers, Oz's most famous fast food restaurant chain. Being vegan, however, Elphaba had not gone in to buy one of those whopper burgers. Instead, all she was having was a-

"Small salad, please," the green girl spoke politely to the obviously-tired cashier. Elphaba could see it in her eyes that she was about to make some joke about the concept of a green-skinned girl eating a salad but, at the last second, the cashier only looked away, taking Elphaba's money as she rang up a small salad. Elphaba, relived that nothing had been said against her today, quickly took her salad and took a seat towards the back of the eatery, only to see that same old Galinda girl come running in seconds later.

"What is Galinda the Glamorous doing in a grease trap like this?" Elphaba asked herself as the blond ordered what appeared to be a chicken sandwich of sorts. She took a seat at the table behind Elphaba's but neither she nor Elphaba acknowledged each other's presence. Or at least, they didn't do it verbally, because Elphaba was sure that Galinda was watching her, but she didn't dare turn around to check.

By the next evening, however, Elphaba's wariness had faded into outright irritation. Once again, the green girl had run into Galinda while trying to eat out, only this time it was at a place called Pizza Palooza, another silly Ozian chain, though slightly better than the Wonderful Wizard's Wonderful Whoppers. But it wasn't the menu that interested Elphaba tonight, it was the fact that Galinda was, once again, a fellow customer. Although Elphaba had nothing against Galinda eating out, or eating out at the same place she did, the fact that this was the third time they'd been in the same place at the same time within the past three days alone was a bit suspect, and Elphaba was going to call Galinda out on it.

While Galinda buried her face in the pizzeria's menu, Elphaba stalked over to Galinda's table. Once again, it was only a few away from Elphaba's. Surely, if nothing else, such convenient seating arrangement would prove Elphaba's suspicions. Then, once Elphaba was standing right in front of Galinda, she continued to watch the blond until she finally realized that she was being watched and sheepishly put the menu down.

"What do you want?" her voice was harsh, but the sheepish expression remained. Elphaba only narrowed her dark eyes before responding.

"Why are you following me?" she asked sternly. Maybe, to some, such a direct route wouldn't have been the wisest, but the moment Galinda suddenly seemed incapable of meeting Elphaba's eyes, Elphaba knew that she had been right all along. Galinda was stalking her.

Elphaba repeated her question and Galinda began to ramble out excuses for the next five minutes straight. At last, however, when she was sick of letting the little blond run her mouth to the Emerald City and back, Elphaba cut her off.

"Do I need to get a restraining order for you?" she demanded. It was a bit extreme to say, but she figured that if she wanted a solid answer from Galinda, she couldn't beat around the bush and just ask for answers anymore. Now was the time for a more serious, high-stakes path. It worked.

"NO!" Galinda cried loud enough to shock Elphaba and a few other diners nearby. For a moment, Galinda seemed to blush, then she cleared her throat once before continuing, voice far softer than before, but just as awkward and embarrassed. "No, no," she said. "That won't be necessary. You don't need a restraining-uhhh, I mean... uhhh..."

"This better not be a prank," Elphaba warned, a wave of bitterness and past pain washing over her as Galinda continued to stutter.

"What? No! No! Not at all!" once again, Galinda got far too loud far too fast and she tried to reign herself in again, though it was getting worse for her with every word she spoke. "No, not at all, not at all," she repeated awkwardly. "I just... Ummm, uhhh. I, uhhh. I mean we! Or not we... I'm fine. I mean, it's my fault. I mean, you're gorgeous! Wait, what?" Galinda muttered. The blond continued to ramble on, but Elphaba had gotten caught up on that last remark from Galinda.

"What did you say?" Elphaba asked lowly, biting out every word. Galinda, scared into obedience, repeated herself, but this time without a stutter.

"Gorgeous? What do you mean?" Elphaba was offended because she thought Galinda was mocking her.

"No really, I, uhhh, just think you're... I don't mind your skin. If that's what you mean and you seem..." Galinda blushed.

"You have a crush on me?" Elphaba was incredulous, but a part of her believed Galinda.

"Not so loud," Galinda whined. Elphaba's jaw fell in disbelief, but somehow, she knew it was true. Before she could ask more though, the waiter came over and Galinda pulled Elphaba beside her and insisted that they were dining together.

One pizza later, Elphaba had learned that after she'd stood up for some other poor bully-victim, Galinda had started to admire her. Ever since that one day where Elphaba put her neck on the line, risking even more harassment than she already faced, for the sake of someone just as unlucky as her whom she didn't even know, Galinda began to respect her. This respect and admiration quickly turned to adoration the longer Galinda got to see how selfless Elphaba really was, even though the world had never done a single thing for her. But Galinda had always been too shy to admit such admiration, so she contended herself with only viewing Elphaba from a distance, believing that Elphaba would never forgive her for what she had done to her, let alone be willing to befriend her! Elphaba thought that this was all a little creepy, but she was flattered. Nobody had ever noticed her good deeds before, not even that bully-victim that she'd stood up for. Elphaba could still remember that day. After telling off his tormentors, the boy in question had turned tail and fled, never even thanking Elphaba once for stepping up to protect him. So to hear Galinda, of all people, not just acknowledging but praising Elphaba's courage upon that day was very unexpected... but not entirely unwelcome...

"I'll pay," said Galinda quickly as the bill finally came in. Elphaba seemed reluctant but Galinda insisted. "You can pay me back by paying for our next meal!" she said, but then she began to blush again and her stuttering returned. "I mean, there will be a next meal, right? I mean, of course you're going to have a next meal again eventually because you need to eat! You're a human! We all need to eat! But everyone knows that! So I mean more if you'd have a next meal with me! I mean, it doesn't have to be your very next meal, but it maybe it could be one of your next ones, with me...? But if not, that's totally cool and I get that, but if you do want to-" Galinda went on and on again while Elphaba only smiled fondly at her, genuine affection within her eyes this time. But after a few more moments of Galinda just being a babbling moron, Elphaba interrupted, putting the poor girl out of her misery.

"Of course there will be a next time for us," she said. "And I am sure there will be many more after that. I most definitely enjoyed tonight."

Then, with that, Elphaba gave Galinda a bit of paper that she had folded up into an origami bird before bidding the blond a quick farewell and bustling out the door immediately thereafter. Seeing right through what Elphaba was getting at, Galinda slowly unfolded the bird and, just as she'd suspected, written on the innermost flap of that bird was her phone number. Galinda felt her heart leap in a giddy whirl.

Over the rest of the year, the girls grew closer and closer, their past hatred fading away until nothing but a few old jokes remained. Then, eventually, the summer rolled around. There were only a few days left before break would be in.

"Meet me at the place where I first stalked you?" a text message on Elphaba's screen read. Elphaba snorted in amusement, but of course she replied with a positive. A few minutes later, Elphaba was standing in the OzBuck's, but she grew nervous as Galinda (who had since renamed herself Glinda) didn't show. Was this the wrong-?

"I have two drinks for... Gelphie?!" a worker called out and Elphaba turned to see her holding one pink and one green shake. A figure that had been stooped over suddenly hopped up and approached the counter. It was Glinda! Elphaba rolled her eyes with a smile and joined her girlfriend.

"There you are!" she declared as Glinda grabbed the drinks, Glinda only smirked up at her before leading them both to a table in the back.

"Here's yours," Glinda said, shoving the green (mint) shake at Elphaba while she took a sip of her pink (strawberry) shake.

"Really, Glinda?" Elphaba scoffed in amusement, but she drank her shake anyway and had to admit that it was very good.

"Pink goes good with green," Glinda replied, clinking her cup with Elphaba's, then silence reigned between the two as they drank.

At last, however, a chat started up between the two, the topic being about their summer plans.

"I'll go home and get a job to help the family," Elphaba said.

"Oh! Have you found anything yet?" Glinda asked.

"I confess that I have not," Elphaba said ruefully. "There aren't very many good jobs back home."

"Well then maybe you could "work" for me?" Glinda asked, then she came up with a plan for Elphaba, and the rest of her family, to live with Glinda in her massive estate over the summer. Her "work" could be just helping take care of the house, though since Glinda had servants to do that for her, it wouldn't really be much work on her or Elphaba's part. Elphaba didn't normally take charity, but she knew her family would love to live in such luxury and Elphaba, herself, was looking forward to being with a certain young blond, so she agreed to Glinda's offer.

Another 20 minutes later, the two were prepping to head back to the dorms.

"I'm glad we had that mix up the first time we were here," said Elphaba as they both turned to go, but then a sly light entered her brown eyes. "I must confess, though," she said, "that I'm starting to doubt if it really was an accident..." Glinda blushed in reply.

"Either way," Glinda said. "You can't deny that it's a very strange way to fall in love, getting spit on by your crush at the college OzBuck's."

"Oh, shut up," Elphaba muttered, the embarrassment seeming to leave Glinda to attach to her again.

"Well either way, it got me a wonderful girlfriend, so I'll drink to it," Glinda promised, raising her empty cup. "Here's to Spit-takes and OzBuck's!" she cried and Elphaba jokingly echoed the cheer.

"Spit-takes and OzBuck's!" the green girl cried, then she and Glinda, hand in hand, headed out of the little café and into the warm sun, already planning for all that they were going to do together that summer.

 **AN: More Gelphie fluff because what else? And of course, the mandatory Coffee House romance prompt, mixed with the low-key stalking because Galinda is crushing on Elphaba but has no idea how to admit it. At least until clever Elphaba sees through it, not that Galinda was ever very subtle...**

 **And side note, don't judge my awful restaurant names, I know they're cringey, but it's all I could think of, LOL. And also, I know nothing about coffee, so I apologize if I butchered that drink Galinda ordered (and no offense to anyone who DOES like that kind of stuff. I hate coffee all around, so I'm more of the freak than anyone else I know).**


End file.
